John Maxwell, a well-known leadership coach, teaches, “Leaders are Learners,” and “When you stop learning, you stop leading.” This fact rings true in society today, with the fast-paced advancement of technology and an
ever-specializing work environment, those wishing to stand out need to continuously work and study to not fade into obscurity.
Learning to fly is a sure-fire way to achieve such a concrete goal. Flying aircraft, at all levels, requires skills few possess. From engine start to engine shutdown, a pilot must continuously solve problems and work through a complex three-dimensional environment to ensure a safe flight. Skills like these translate well into day-to-day decision-making processes by allowing a person with flying experience to quickly take in multiple pieces of information, apply them to the problem, and make informed decisions.
Though in the beginning, learning to fly requires a large financial investment, becoming a pilot unlocks pathways to lucrative job opportunities. From airlines jobs to chartered jet services, to hauling cargo, all those jobs will quickly pay for the initial investment.
There are many pathways to becoming a pilot: flying in the military, attending a college with an aviation program, or going to the local airport and attending a flight school all lead to a pilot
rating. Each approach comes with its own challenges and requirements but, for those who stay the course, the rewards and views can be amazing.
Like any pathway in life, there are no easy buttons to achieving quick success in aviation. Anyone that tells you otherwise is lying! To quote the US Navy SEALs, “The only easy day was yesterday.” Prospective pilots must stay on course to guarantee success. Each skill requires study, review, and execution to standard. Each skill builds on the last one learned and when put
all together, result in a successful flight and achievement of a new skill that no one can take from you. These building blocks ensure you are better than you were the day before, solidify the learned behavior, and assure the investment of time and money is worthwhile.
After you’ve gained your initial private pilot certificate, your journey of investment will continue. You’ll have to build flight hours, achieve certification to fly airplanes with more than one engine, and if you desire, become an instructor. See our blog post, “Which rating is right for me” for more details.
Aviation instruction further hardens your investment in yourself and unlocks the opportunity to gain a whole new skillset. Teaching requires you to know yourself and your student. Everyone learns differently and at different paces. As an instructor, you will have to learn how to work with each personality and at a pace designed to reach your students effectively.
These skills translate well outside the flying community when working with challenging business partners, bosses, or dysfunctional teams. The skills you learn by teaching others in an aircraft will allow you to manage each of the above scenarios with greater ease and professionalism, making you an asset to both your leadership and the corporation for whom you work.
Teaching drives self-reflection and highlights your own shortfalls. There will be times you cannot effectively reach a student despite your best efforts. Times will come when you’ll have to ask for
help from other instructors to reach a struggling student. Though humbling, these events allow you to realize you can’t reach everyone. This process further hones your ability as an instructor, allowing you to identify potential problem areas earlier and prep both yourself and your student for times when a new instructor is needed.
The entirety of the “learning to fly” process requires discipline. There are specific processes, regulations, and checklists required for safe execution. In the beginning you, as the student pilot, must learn and adhere to that guidance. Later, as an instructor, you must teach your students to adhere to the same guidance. Though not evident at first, there will become a point at which you realize little things that you may have missed in the beginning, are easily caught as
you execute your flights.
Leaders outside the flying community crave employees with this capability. Even small things have the potential to cost corporations significant amounts of money to correct. Employees and partners with the ability to catch these little things early and save that money are at times, handsomely rewarded.
Finally, outside of the skills gained as an individual, working as a pilot opens the opportunity to experience places and things inaccessible by car or rail. Once you gain enough flight hours to work with companies operating around the world, you’ll see things you may have only read about in school or magazines. These experiences come with a learning element that only “in-person” experiences can offer. You may learn the things you have read or thought were incorrect or a bit askew. Gaining this knowledge will further broaden your capability as an
effective communicator and leader as you move through life. You’ll be able to pass your experiences on to your family and friends, possibly motivating them to travel or begin their journey as pilots.
In the end, taking the first step to become a pilot opens a gateway of learning that you both literally and figuratively control as you gain experience. Every skill you learn effectively translates to real capabilities employers find desirable. Flying allows you to explore your own limits as a learner and teacher, if you elect to take that route. So don’t wait: every dollar spent investing in yourself and a new skill is not wasted, and knowledge is the one thing the world can’t take away from you.
Contact us if you have questions about where to start.
Fly safe, fly smart, and be excellent to one another.
